Best PlacesWaianae, HI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waianae, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Waianae ranks 1,747th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waianae
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Waianae's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waianae ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of cities
Where Waianae ranks low
- Short commute44.0 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 3% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Waianae
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waianae home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,888, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Waianae's effective rate of 0.27%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waianae
Waianae runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Waianae.
Who works in Waianae, and how
Work in Waianae centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Waianae
The coast is about 1 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Waianae, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waianae, month by month
Waianae sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 78, with lows near 62. The comfortable stretch runs October through June.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78° | 69° | 62° |
| April | 80° | 72° | 64° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 69° |
| October | 83° | 75° | 67° |
Flying in and out of Waianae
Daniel K Inouye International sits about 20 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.5 million passengers in 2025, with 65 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Waianae
Schools across Waianae average a D, better than 3% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Maili Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
- Leihoku Elementary SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Nanakuli Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waianae Intermediate SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Waianae High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Nanakuli High & Intermediate SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waianae school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waianae measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Waianae against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Waianae suits
Families
Schools land around the 3rd percentile and crime safety beats 76%.
Common questions about living in Waianae
Is Waianae a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waianae ranks 1,747th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low property taxes, clean air, and transit, and lowest on long commutes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waianae expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $590,450. The overall cost of living runs about 52% above the national average. Set against a $87,888 median income, cost of living beats 2% of cities.
Is Waianae safe?
Yes, Waianae is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waianae?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 78 with lows near 62. That works out to about 134 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of cities.
Is Waianae good for families?
Schools beat 3% of cities, crime safety beats 76%, and childcare runs $1,434 a month.
Compare Waianae with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waianae. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waianae represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Waianae detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waianae: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waianae: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waianae: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waianae: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waianae detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.